Glenn Sparrow
by AlwaysAddicted
Summary: He cherished their friendship for it was the only one he ever made. He'd never wished for it. Never needed it, before. But now that he had it, he finally understood what it was like to feel human. Why it was worth it. Now that he had it, he didn't want to let it go. Or: Harry returns to Hogwarts and forms a unique friendship with a first year Ravenclaw boy.
1. Chapter 1

There was a man.

He saw him as a space of darkness. The forbidden forest at night, in contrast, was a landscape of light around him. But that light would not allow his sight to uncover anything. Not the name of the man. Not his appearance. Not his intentions. Not even which way he looked. He saw only an unnatural stripe of darkness.

The man stood as though he was one with the shadows, heavily blurring the outlines of his silhouette. And then the man moved, slowly to the left, the darkness willingly playing along. The streaks of shadow twirled around him, effectively uncovering his camouflage. Fully aware of the intruder, Glenn ran.

His feet betrayed him. The grounds were filled mud and dirt, but also with twigs, which were never a kind companion to stealth. They broke, snapped, and emitted a sound so loud to the man, that he followed.

Glenn himself, was aware of the sound he was making. He ran, nonetheless. He weaved through the maze of trees expertly, hands lightly stroking the bark from time to time in order to aid his balance, but his feet never ceasing the rapid rhythm he'd set out with.

The density of trees quickly receded around him, allowing small dots of light to reach his eyes. The clear night sky allowed the stars above him to twinkle calmly while his panicked run continued. He noted them, but focused on the lights of the castle up ahead. His end destination.

The air around him grew less stifling as less and less trees surrounded him. When he reached the edge of the forest, he slowed down and gladly breathed in the fresh air, calming down. He stayed close to the border between forest and field, simply looking at the castle. And he smiled.

He turned around for one more glance at the scattered collection of trees behind him, but instead got a glance of the, now more defined, streak of shadow.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked.

Glenn ran again. And fell.

"I'm braking as many rules as you are. Stop running away."

Glenn rolled over, and looked up at the man, his sight at last revealing that the man was barely more of a man than any other student.

The teen held out his hand. Glenn let him help him up.

"Why are you up and out?" asked the teen.

Glenn shrugged.

"You shouldn't be in the forbidden forest. You know that right?"

Glenn nodded.

"So why were you?"

"You shouldn't have been in there either."

A pause. "No, I shouldn't have."

"So why were you?"

The teen laughed. "What's your name?"

"Glenn."

"I'm Harry."

Silence.

"What house are you in, Glenn?"

"Ravenclaw."

"Which year?"

"First."

"Pity. You'd have been a great Gryffindor." Harry started walking towards the castle.

Only when he'd walked halfway up to the castle did he realize Glenn wasn't following. "You coming?"

Glenn started following.

He caught up to Harry at the entrance, and they walked a part of their journey to their separate common rooms together, but didn't talk.

"See you around, Glenn." Harry said when they their path split up.


	2. Chapter 2

"Again?"

Startled, he started running, straight into the person who'd spoken.

"Again?" Harry smiled.

Glenn smiled unsurely back.

"Why?" Harry said.

"Why what?"

"Why are you here?"

"Why not?"

"Stop answering with questions."

"Okay."

The chirping of birds quickly became the predominant sound around them. Harry looked at him, and he simply looked back. He took a note of his appearance. He lingered over his scars. The lightning shaped scar on his head was most notable, but still he saw the peculiar one on his hand and the scatter of lines all over his bare arms. It was a warm, sunny Sunday.

"You should stop coming here." Harry said, eventually.

"Why?"

Harry turned to where the castle was hidden behind layers of tree and started walking. "It's forbidden."

Glenn followed him, hands again scraping the bark of the trees he passed. He breathed in the smell and sight of nature, taking notice of the feel of the rough surface under his hands, and feeling the pulse of life under it. He didn't want to let it go.

"You come here." he said.

"You shouldn't." Harry replied.

"That's not fair."

"This isn't about fair or not. This is about safe or not."

"I can survive."

Harry looked over his appearance once more. "You think you can. I don't."

"Why not?"

"Glenn, stop this. Just don't come here."

With the older boy's glare on him, he shrank and nodded unwillingly.


	3. Chapter 3

He held up his hands, willing himself into a calm and soothing stance. His feet were close together. His shoulders were small and relaxed. His head was down.

The creature he faced let out a strangled noise, but accepted his presence. So he proceeded forwards, hands still up, until he was close enough to touch. He stalled there, letting it tilt its head to close the distance.

For what he could see, the creature resembled a horse, but black, starved, and winged. This one in particular was injured. Its features seemed tortured by the pain, and standing up already seemed too much of an effort. He stroked the creatures neck, delicately feeling the delicate bones under the thin layer skin. The creature seemed the tiniest bit soothed.

He encouraged it to lay down, and sat on his knees besides its head. Never did he cease his stroking.

Another strangled sound echoed through the forest. And another one. He felt the drumming of the hooves before he heard the clacking sounds. The neck under his hand strained to tilt the head again. The creature let out a small pleased sound before its breathing stilled.

Just then a herd of similar creatures appeared through the wall of trees. His presence was a threat to them instead of the soothing source it was for their deceased cousin. Suddenly he was running away from a herd of protective, winged horses.

He was a fast runner. He could outrun Clover, Nessie, and Fern, but he never was able to keep up with their stable horses, even in the thickest parts of forest. He would never outrun this herd.

They came closer by the second. It didn't take a minute for him to know they would catch up any moment. He couldn't imagine what a herd of grieving, magical horses would do to him. He panicked, stopped running, and turned around.

Just as the leading member proceeded to jump him, fire erupted. The bright flames blinded his dark-accustomed sight.

Before his sight returned, he felt hands wrap around his arms, dragging him. He trashed in the other person's hold, kicking and hitting.

"This is surviving!?" someone shouted above the roaring of fire.

He stopped thrashing, just as his ears and eyes both came to the conclusion that it was just Harry. "Yes, it is!" he shouted back, defiantly.

The flames disappeared as suddenly as they came, leaving him colder than he was before Harry's appearance. The winged horses were gone by now. He stood up unsteadily, sight still not what it used to be, but good enough to read Harry's obviously enraged expression.

"I told you not to come back here." Harry was barely not shouting, but gradually released his hold on him.

"And I should follow you every wish?"

"You picked a bad night." Harry laughed darkly, reinforced his hold again, and started walking. "We're going to visit headmaster McGonagall."

"You said yourself you were breaking as many rules as me."

"I lied." Harry suddenly held up his wand, focusing his gaze to the same spot.

Glenn had heard it as well. The sound of breaking twigs which some days ago had betrayed his position to Harry now betrayed their anonymous companion.

Suddenly the light of a spell raced towards them. Before Glenn had thought to react, Harry produced a shield and cast another dozen spells back. They waited alarmed after Harry's attack of spells, but no more attacks came.

At least, from in front of them. A purple light rushed in from behind them and hit him in his calve, creating a cutting pain. He didn't see the extent of his damage in the darkness and panic around him, but he felt blood.

Harry was now reacting to spells from all around them. Every single beam of light came out of nowhere. They only had a wall of dark to react from. Yet, every single beam was halted by a flick of Harry's wand and reciprocated by a spell. Neither came to more harm.

The attacks slowly stopped coming, as the assassins were taken out one by one. Once they were calmly in the dark again, Harry moved. He followed, limping.

They stopped at a cloaked body. Harry breathed in heavily while removing the dark mask the corpse was wearing. Glenn stared at the dismissed mask of the Death Eater and unconsciously mimicked Harry's heavy breath.

He hadn't even finished releasing the air when he felt the thumping of hooves nearing once more, and rolled his eyes.

He ran a small fraction of a second before Harry did, and remained in the lead their entire sprint. It was only a matter of reaching the castle now. No more spells or fighting if they could accomplish that. Nothing complicated. Just running.

And so they did. They air quickly grew fresher as the density of trees decreased. Lights sparkled from above and ahead. A slight sense of déjà vu the scene gave him.

He wasn't expecting to fall this time, however. His head hit the ground hard. He looked through the sudden burst of pain at Harry who'd fallen over the same root as a result of following him too closely. Then he looked to the horses which were jumping over them and fleeing until the forest, at last, was silent and calm.

Harry laughed hysterically. He couldn't help from laughing himself, even as his eyes and mind started to black out.


	4. Chapter 4

An older boy in the adjacent bed noticed him. "You're awake."

He slowly nodded.

"You've been out for a whole day."

"Where am I?"

The boy frowned. "You're in the infirmary," he said, "at Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?"

"You don't remember Hogwarts?"

He didn't answer, but the boy understood. "Wait a moment." He left and returned with an older woman, who took out a stick and pointed it at him.

"What are you doing?" He sat up. Immediately the world started spinning. A hand on his shoulder steadied him.

"His head injury is a bit worse than I'd expected." the woman said after a moment of silence. When the dizziness stopped, the stick was gone. The hand on his shoulder was as well.

"What does that mean?" the boy said.

"He'll be fine, but I don't want to interfere when he'll heal on his own. This is a bit more delicate than a broken bone."

"And his memories?"

"Will return over time. I'll inform professor Flitwick."

The woman left.

"What's the last thing you remember?" the boy asked.

"The birth of the new pups at our farm."

"Do you remember your eleventh birthday?"

He nodded.

"So you remember magic?"

Slowly, he nodded. "Yes. A professor came. I'm a wizard."

The boy smiled.

He looked at him and the scar on his head which was badly hidden by a pluck of black hair. "Are you?"

"Yes."


	5. Chapter 5

They talked a lot that night, lying in two beds next to each other. He couldn't concentrate very well, and he was tired despite being out for a day, but this was his first time talking to someone closer to his age than his mother. This was the first time talking to someone at Hogwarts. From what he could remember, at least.

Harry talked about Hogwarts and what he'd forgotten about it. He told him about the houses.

"There's Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"In which are you?"

"Gryffindor."

"And me?"

"Ravenclaw. But I still think you'd have been a good Gryffindor."

"Why?"

He heard about how he'd gone into the forbidden forest.

"I told you not to go. You did. Now, head injury. You should've listened."

"That's no fun."

"You see, Gryffindor. Too reckless for Ravenclaw."

He talked about the forest surrounding the farm.

"I live close to a forest. It was brilliant."

"You lived on a farm."

"Yep."

Then told the story of their newborn pups, his last memory.

"And you witnessed all the births?"

"Yep."

"Ew, gross."

Harry talked about the animals at Hogwarts and Hagrid.

"Hagrid, the gamekeeper, takes care of all sorts of animals. I'll introduce you. Maybe he'll let you witness more births."

"Ew."

Then their conversation strayed. They talked and talked about absolutely nothing at all until the sun had come up and the woman, Madame Pomfrey, came in to dismiss Harry.

"I'll see you around." Harry had said as a goodbye.

"Yeah. See you."

"You okay?"

"Yep."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"I'll come by tonight."

He smiled.

And so Harry came back that night. He had a book with him called Quidditch Through the Ages. "Professor Flitwick said you liked Quidditch."

He came by the night after as well. And nearly every other night he spent in the infirmary.

"Madame Pomfrey said I could start with homework." he said one time when Harry came by with his favorite apple scones.

"Brilliant."

"Yeah."

"What?"

"She said I should ask one of my friends to bring it to me."

"So?"

"I don't know who my friends are."

Harry frowned. "None of your friends came by?"

He shook his head, mouth filled with an apple scone. "I'm not sure if I have any." he said after swallowing the scone.

"I'll bring it then." Harry said. "And you have me as a friend."

He smiled.

One time Harry came by in the afternoon.

"Why are you so early?" he asked.

Harry shrugged.

He kept looking expectantly.

"Hermione and Ron were off doing... I don't know. I don't have anywhere else to be."

"What about Ginny?"

"She's mad at me."

"For what?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe you should talk to her."

"I'd rather let her cool down."

"What about Neville?"  
"With Luna."

"Don't you have homework?"

"Yes."

"Well then make it."

"Do I have to?"

"Kind of."

"Maybe I should help you."

"Are you sure you can handle first year material?"

"Git."

Harry did help him with homework sometimes, but he still didn't think he'd ever catch up to where he was supposed to be. Homework was all he had to pass the days in the infirmary, but his brain just wouldn't cooperate. Everything took twice as long than before, and he had twice as much to make than his other classmates.

So that was how he spent his days. Being frustrated with homework and talking with Harry. It wasn't exciting, and he missed being able to move around. He'd lost count, but was still certain he'd been there for at least two weeks. He'd felt healthy enough to move around after the first week.

Then came the day that Harry entered the infirmary to see him nearly dressed in his uniform. Only his tie was missing. He held it in his hands.

"Hey." Harry said.

"Hi."

"Dismissed?"

He nodded.

"Nervous?"

"I don't remember how to tie a tie."

Harry laughed and proceeded to tie it for him. They walked to the great hall together.


	6. Chapter 6

He felt like prey. A pack of wolves, they were. They circled him and observed from a distance, ready to strike. They camouflaged themselves, hiding effectively in their surroundings. They hid amongst the sheep, who would maybe offer him protection, but were unaware of what was happening under their noses.

He remembered none of their names, and only a blur of their faces. Glimpses of memories flashed by. They revealed only scenes which confused and scared him. The more he remembered, the more he became he'd entered a territory, belonging to a pack which never extended an invitation to make himself at home.

The wolves stopped circling him and trailed upstairs over time. One halted before following the rest of the pack. "Welcome back, dimwit." she said. Her hair was organized into two blonde plaids, falling over her shoulders to her middle. Her glasses were slowly gliding down her nose as she said so. She pushed them back with one hand, balancing a stack of books with her other. Her shoulders were hunched and she held a timid demeanor. Her face spoke of disdain. Her voice announced her feeling of superiority.

He was officially rejected by the weakest member of the pack.

He sat down on one of the blue couches and started to remember where he was. His common room. At this hour it was only occupied by the eldest students, the sheep, cramming in their late-night studies. Their eyes glazed over him when they looked his way. There was no connection.

He lay on the blue couch in the corner of the room, designed for elegancy over comfort, the whole night. He curled up into a smaller ball while every memory returned to him with detail. The last of students eventually all retired to their dorms, and the last candle-light slowly dimmed as he cried silently for the first time.

ooo

"Mr. Sparrow, answer me."

He simply looked at his desk, fingers tracing the lines left in the denatured tree.

"Look at me, Mr. Sparrow."

He closed his eyes.

"Five points from Ravenclaw. Anybody else?" The girl next to him, with the blonde plaids, held up her hand. "Yes, Isabelle?"

A day went by without him saying a word or ever looking at someone. It hurt. Then a week, and it became normal.

He didn't go back into the forest. He wanted to, but didn't. So, he never left the castle. He went from his dorm to classroom and classroom and classroom, back to his dorm.

He slept, studied and ate. Days went by slowly, but before he knew it, it was a week and then a month and then two since his release from the hospital. He never cried again.

And then it was winter. Everything continued in the same way, never stopping. Until professor Flitwick called him to his office.

ooo

"Glenn, what's troubling you?"

Professor Flitwick was about half his size. Yet he felt small. He didn't meet his eye, preferring the dust, illuminated by the gloomy light of grey clouds outside. A small impulse to disrupt the peaceful movement of specks with his hand went through him. Instead he stared in front of him, immobile.

"Glenn, -" Flitwick seemed to give up, and changed the subject to more practical issues. "Mr. Sparrow, your grades have dropped dramatically. I don't know whether it's because of your injury or whatever you're going through at the moment, but either way I think it would benefit you greatly to have a tutor aid you."

He met his head of house's eye for a short glance, before glaring back at the ray of dust. He wanted to poke the air.

"Do you have anything to say about this?"

He answered in his head: "Piss off."

"Harry will be meeting you in the library every Monday after school."

Being dismissed, he stood up, took one last look at the collection of dust, and walked back to his dorm. The specks peacefully continued to dance in the air. He nearly smiled.


End file.
